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A Voyage in the 'Sunbeam' by Annie Allnut Brassey

A >> Annie Allnut Brassey >> A Voyage in the \'Sunbeam\'




With an addition of 20 ft. to the length, and more engine power, the
'Sunbeam' presents a type which might be found efficient for naval
services in distant waters, where good sailing qualities are
essential, and large ships are not required.

On looking back, and contrasting the anticipated difficulties with the
actual experiences of the voyage, the ease and certainty with which
every passage has been made are truly surprising. Our track has been
for the most part within the Tropics. The storms off the Cape of Good
Hope and Cape Horn have been avoided in the inland passages of the
Straits of Magellan and the Suez Canal. We have encountered no
continuous stormy weather, except during the four days preceding our
arrival at Yokohama. We have suffered discomfort from heat and
detention in calms, but storms have disturbed us seldom, and they have
not lasted long.

Our experience of gales include a north-east gale off Cape Finisterre,
on the outward voyage; a northerly gale between Rio and the River
Plate, a westerly gale off the east coast of Patagonia, short but
severe gales on each of the four days preceding our arrival at
Yokohama, a severe gale from the north-west in the Inland Sea, a
north-east gale in the Formosa Channel, a northerly gale in the
Straits of Jubal, a westerly gale off Port Said, and an easterly gale
on the south coast of Candia. On the passage homewards from Gibraltar
we met strong northerly winds on the coast of Portugal, and a
north-east gale off Cape Finisterre.

The navigation has presented few difficulties. All the coasts that we
have visited have been surveyed. Lighthouses are now as numerous and
efficient on the coasts of China and Japan as on the shores of Europe.
Such is the perfection of the modern chronometer, that lunar
observations, the only difficult work in ocean navigation, are no
longer necessary; and the wind charts published by the Admiralty
supply to the amateur navigator accumulated information and valuable
hints for every stage of his voyage.

How infinitely easy is the task of the modern circumnavigator compared
with the hazardous explorations of Magelhaens and Captain Cook, when
the chronometer was an instrument of rude and untrustworthy quality,
when there were no charts, and the roaring of the breakers in the dead
of night was the mariner's first warning that a coral reef was near!

Our comprehensive and varied cruise has strengthened my former
convictions that the disasters due to negligence bear a large
proportion to the number of inevitable losses. Every coast is
dangerous to the careless commander; but there are no frequented seas
where, with the exercise of caution and reasonable skill, the dangers
cannot be avoided. These remarks do not, of course, apply to cases of
disaster from stress of weather. In fogs there must be delay, though
not necessarily danger.

In these days of lamentation over the degeneracy of the British
seaman, my experience may be accepted as a contribution to the mass of
evidence on this vexed question. I have not been surrounded by such
smart seamen as can only be found on a man-of-war, but I have no
ground for general or serious complaint. Many of my crew have done
their duty most faithfully. In emergencies everybody has risen to the
occasion, and has done best when his skill or endurance was most
severely tried--

'My mariners,
Souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me,
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine.'

It is always in stormy weather that the good qualities of the British
seaman are displayed to the greatest advantage. The difficulty is to
keep up his interest and energies in long intervals of fine weather,
when nothing occurs to rouse him to an effort, and the faculties of
the seaman before the mast, no less than those of his officer, are
benumbed by the monotony and isolation from mankind, which are the
gravest drawbacks of a sailor's life. It is in these dull moments that
men are tempted to drink and quarrel, that officers become tyrannical,
and their crews insubordinate, or even mutinous. Lest it should be
thought that my impressions of the average sailor are derived from an
exceptional crew or picked men, I have only to add that the manning of
the 'Sunbeam' was a family job. The sailing master was related by
blood or marriage to the majority of his subordinates--fishermen from
the coast of Essex, who had received their early training among the
banks and shoals at the mouth of the Thames.

In this connection I tender my sincere tribute of praise to the
officers of the Navy for their success in maintaining the efficiency
and spirit of their crews through long commissions on foreign
stations, much time being necessarily spent in harbour, in many cases
in the most enervating climates. The discipline of the service seems
to be admirable, and the seamen are reconciled to it by tradition, by
early training, and perhaps by an instinctive perception of its
necessity.

I am equally bound to commend the efficiency of our consular service
in the remotest outposts of civilisation which we have visited; and
evidences of good colonial administration are abundantly manifest in
Hongkong, Singapore, Penang, Ceylon, and Aden, in the prosperity and
contentment of the people.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, in conclusion, that experiences
may be gathered in a voyage of circumnavigation which are not to be
gleaned from Blue-books or from shorter cruises in European waters. A
more vivid impression is formed of the sailor's daily life, of his
privations at sea, and his temptations on shore. The services required
of the Navy are more clearly appreciated after a visit to distant
foreign stations.

Such a voyage is, indeed, a serious effort. It demands many laborious
days and anxious nights of watching. For my safe return to 'those
pale, those white-faced shores,' so welcome to the homeward-bound,
accompanied, happily, by the adventurous little family who have taken
part in the expedition, I am truly thankful.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

THOMAS BRASSEY.

COWES

actual experiences of the voyage, the ease and certainty with which
every passage has been made are truly surprising. Our track has been
for the most part within the Tropics. The storms off the Cape of Good
Hope and Cape Horn have been avoided in the inland passages of the
Straits of Magellan and the Suez Canal. We have encountered no
continuous stormy weather, except during the four days preceding our
arrival at Yokohama. We have suffered discomfort from heat and
detention in calms, but storms have disturbed us seldom, and they have
not lasted long.

Our experience of gales include a north-east gale off Cape Finisterre,
on the outward voyage; a northerly gale between Rio and the River
Plate, a westerly gale off the east coast of Patagonia, short but
severe gales on each of the four days preceding our arrival at
Yokohama, a severe gale from the north-west in the Inland Sea, a
north-east gale in the Formosa Channel, a northerly gale in the
Straits of Jubal, a westerly gale off Port Said, and an easterly gale
on the south coast of Candia. On the passage homewards from Gibraltar
we met strong northerly winds on the coast of Portugal, and a
north-east gale off Cape Finisterre.

The navigation has presented few difficulties. All the coasts that we
have visited have been surveyed. Lighthouses are now as numerous and
efficient on the coasts of China and Japan as on the shores of Europe.
Such is the perfection of the modern chronometer, that lunar
observations, the only difficult work in ocean navigation, are no
longer necessary; and the wind charts published by the Admiralty
supply to the amateur navigator accumulated information and valuable
hints for every stage of his voyage.

How infinitely easy is the task of the modern circumnavigator compared
with the hazardous explorations of Magelhaens and Captain Cook, when
the chronometer was an instrument of rude and untrustworthy quality,
when there were no charts, and the roaring of the breakers in the dead
of night was the mariner's first warning that a coral reef was near!

Our comprehensive and varied cruise has strengthened my former
convictions that the disasters due to negligence bear a large
proportion to the number of inevitable losses. Every coast is
dangerous to the careless commander; but there are no frequented seas
where, with the exercise of caution and reasonable skill, the dangers
cannot be avoided. These remarks do not, of course, apply to cases of
disaster from stress of weather. In fogs there must be delay, though
not necessarily danger.

In these days of lamentation over the degeneracy of the British
seaman, my experience may be accepted as a contribution to the mass of
evidence on this vexed question. I have not been surrounded by such
smart seamen as can only be found on a man-of-war, but I have no
ground for general or serious complaint. Many of my crew have done
their duty most faithfully. In emergencies everybody has risen to the
occasion, and has done best when his skill or endurance was most
severely tried--

'My mariners,
Souls that have toiled and wrought and thought with me,
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine.'

It is always in stormy weather that the good qualities of the British
seaman are displayed to the greatest advantage. The difficulty is to
keep up his interest and energies in long intervals of fine weather,
when nothing occurs to rouse him to an effort, and the faculties of
the seaman before the mast, no less than those of his officer, are
benumbed by the monotony and isolation from mankind, which are the
gravest drawbacks of a sailor's life. It is in these dull moments that
men are tempted to drink and quarrel, that officers become tyrannical,
and their crews insubordinate, or even mutinous. Lest it should be
thought that my impressions of the average sailor are derived from an
exceptional crew or picked men, I have only to add that the manning of
the 'Sunbeam' was a family job. The sailing master was related by
blood or marriage to the majority of his subordinates--fishermen from
the coast of Essex, who had received their early training among the
banks and shoals at the mouth of the Thames.

In this connection I tender my sincere tribute of praise to the
officers of the Navy for their success in maintaining the efficiency
and spirit of their crews through long commissions on foreign
stations, much time being necessarily spent in harbour, in many cases
in the most enervating climates. The discipline of the service seems
to be admirable, and the seamen are reconciled to it by tradition, by
early training, and perhaps by an instinctive perception of its
necessity.

I am equally bound to commend the efficiency of our consular service
in the remotest outposts of civilisation which we have visited; and
evidences of good colonial administration are abundantly manifest in
Hongkong, Singapore, Penang, Ceylon, and Aden, in the prosperity and
contentment of the people.

It is scarcely necessary to observe, in conclusion, that experiences
may be gathered in a voyage of circumnavigation which are not to be
gleaned from Blue-books or from shorter cruises in European waters. A
more vivid impression is formed of the sailor's daily life, of his
privations at sea, and his temptations on shore. The services required
of the Navy are more clearly appreciated after a visit to distant
foreign stations.

Such a voyage is, indeed, a serious effort. It demands many laborious
days and anxious nights of watching. For my safe return to 'those
pale, those white-faced shores,' so welcome to the homeward-bound,
accompanied, happily, by the adventurous little family who have taken
part in the expedition, I am truly thankful.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

THOMAS BRASSEY.

COWES

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